The Road to Lalish

This time last year I had just returned from North Kurdistan (Diyarbakir) where I spent a fabulous Eid break reveling in the fact that there was cake and coffee... and that there were women in the street. This year, some of that can now be found here in South Kurdistan. For instance, there is cake to be had at both Dilan Restaurant and Abu Afif- baklava bakery from Baghdad.
This year, although I had been thinking of crossing the border to Gaziantep or Urfa, what with the Turkish-army-amassing-on-the-border situation, I decided instead that this was the time to take the long awaited day trip to Lalish, the Yezidi spiritual heartland.

Meet the group of happy travellers: all first-timers to Lalish except for out driver (far right) and his friend (far left)... but funnily enough, the real guide was Dr. P, third from the left (next to me).

And this is where we stopped for a lovely brunch of half-cooked chicken kebabs and tea in the garden:

This next picture has no significant, but of all the silly pictures I took of nothing (in the excitement of finally being on my way to Lalish, I liked this one as I like the drawing of the truck. I remember arguing once in the UBC fine arts department that anything can be art if someone considers it to be so.

And this last photo is where the real excitement started to build! Finally at Lalish - the sight of the distinctive conical shapes let us know that we have arrived and this trip is not going to end in the disappointment I experienced on my last failed attempt to get here!